Like with my NFC West and especially AFC West predictions, these predictions come late enough in the season for me to admit just how mistaken my projections would have been. For example, I would have picked the Bears solidly in last place, but they are actually presently comfortably in first place as I write this. Either Minnesota or Green Bay, meanwhile, would have seemed the safest pick to be the top team here. But the Vikings have been inconsistent, and the Packers have not looked very good at all And the Lions, like the Vikings, have been unpredictable on a massive scale, as well. So, I have published these predictions with those things in mind, even though originally, I intended to publish this well before the regular season even started. Forgive me the liberties that I have taken thus, given that the season is already six weekends in.
Here are my predictions for the NFC North!
Chicago Bears
1. Chicago Bears (projected division winners) - The Bears are enjoying a tremendous season, one in which they are making huge leaps forward on both offense and defense. They have a very solid defense, and their offense is surprisingly good, too. They might not get the attention that the Rams, Chiefs, or Saints are getting in terms of explosiveness, but they can move the ball, as well as score some points. With a rising star at quarterback, and some serious talent on defense, the city of Chicago has every reason to be optimistic about the future for their NFL franchise. And with a very real shot at taking the division title this year, the future might be this year, at least in terms of making a big splash and hosting a playoff game, if not necessarily making the NFC Championship and/or Super Bowl, for the first time in over a decade. But the Bears are clearly going in the right direction, and they seem to be getting used to winning. Week after week, they just keep surprising people in the right ways, to the point that it is no longer that much of a surprise. And despite their traditional weakness of losing divisional games, recent wins against Detroit and Minnesota has this team rightly believing they can - and should - be NFC North champs once this regular seasons ends.
1. Minnesota Vikings (projected second place) - The Vikings are enjoying a decent season. Not one quite on par with the elite team that they were last season, despite their finishing the season in a disappointment, with a blowout loss at Philly to the eventual Super Bowl champions. However, the Vikings have one of the best, and potentially one of the most dangerous, offenses in the league. Granted, they seem to have some lapses, like that inexplicable loss at home to the Bills earlier this season. However, their offense usually generates enough points to allow their middle of the pack defense to make it stand up. So far, the Vikings have not been overly consistent or excelled either at home nor on the road, yet they have remained good enough to not only remain a factor, but to be one of the inescapable teams that have to be considered not only a playoff contender, but potentially a title contender as well. After all, out of their three losses thus far, two are to true elite powerhouses in the NFC, the Rams and the Saints. That makes them a dangerous team, and with their combination of talent and experience, they have enough to get past a surprisingly strong challenge from the inexperienced Chicago Bears in order to win this division outright. But they have lost a lot of ground to the Bears already, and have not shown enough consistency to be a sure bet to catch Chicago and take the division title. That is also why I have this team finishing second.
3. Green Bay Packers (projected Third place) - Something strange is happening in Green Bay. The Packers always seem to look dangerous and appear almost always to have at least legitimate aspirations to reach the playoffs by the time Thanksgiving comes around. Yet the Packers are hovering just below .500, and have yet to win a road game this season. As Aaron Rodgers, the Packers excellent quarterback and future Hall of Famer, said earlier this season, the defense has held it's own. They are a solid unit, in the top half in terms of both yards and points allowed. What is surprising is their offense, led by Rodgers. They have not stood out like many, if not most, expected. Usually, they are one of the elite, dangerous offenses, but that explosive quality has been largely missing so far this season. And this team has not shown an ability to defeat any winning teams, save that miracle win against Chicago to open up the season. They were unable to defeat either Minnesota, Washington, the Rams, or the Patriots, and that, plus their struggles on the road, could prove costly in the second half of the season. They will be playing at Seattle, at Minnesota, at Chicago (who will likely want revenge for that prior game), and will be hosting a Falcons team that is clearly coming on and will need to win to stay in the playoff picture by that point. And this team has little room for any errors, as they are two games behind the Vikings and the Bears already. This just is not the same team that we have come to expect in what used to be known as Titletown, and that is why I see them only finishing in third place, and out of the playoff picture when the final weeks of the regular season roll around.
4. Detroit Lions (projected last place) - The Lions compensated Matthew Stafford for being a good quarterback, although frankly, I am not entirely sure why. After all, so far, he has proven himself to be a good quarterback, but not a great or elite quarterback capable to taking his team to a title, or even far into the playoffs. Yet, they paid him like he was the second coming off Joe Montana, or as if he was on the grade of Tom Brady or Peyton Manning. Quite frankly, he is not. Detroit's offense has shown an ability to score some points at times this season, but Stafford has not put together numbers that would justify that kind of an investment, which leads me to believe that the mismanagement by the top brass in this Lions organization is still making the same mistakes that have prevented his team from being overly competitive in recent decades. Remember, this is a team that has the second longest active drought in terms of playoff wins. The last time that the Lions won a playoff game was following the 1991-92 season, when they went 12-4 and won the division title, then beat Dallas in the divisional round. But that was a different time, when the Soviet Union still existed, when few people knew the Clintons, and when Belichick was only in his first year ever as head coach of a professional team, and that was at Cleveland. In other words, it was a different time. Detroit's offense has been good, but not great, and the same can be said for their defense. And they keep losing the most important games that they would need to win in order to be considered serious contenders within this division. They lost their first two games, both to losing teams, and have allowed opportunities to slip by throughout the season, like that last minute loss at Dallas (another losing team), and the two consecutive losses against the Seahawks and the Vikings. All of this feels too predictable, and that is why I am making the not so bold prediction that history will remain consistent, and the Lions will, once again, disappoint their fans, this time by finishing last in this division.
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